Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe.
BACKGROUND: Sleeping sickness, also called human African trypanosomiasis, is transmitted by the tsetse, a blood-sucking fly confined to sub-Saharan Africa. The form of the disease in West and Central Africa is carried mainly by species of tsetse that inhabit riverine woodland and feed avidly on huma...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4bebebf14ed446e9b80003d056b25f33 2023-05-15T15:16:36+02:00 Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. Stephen J Torr Andrew Chamisa T N Clement Mangwiro Glyn A Vale 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001791 https://doaj.org/article/4bebebf14ed446e9b80003d056b25f33 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3429383?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001791 https://doaj.org/article/4bebebf14ed446e9b80003d056b25f33 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 6, Iss 8, p e1791 (2012) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001791 2022-12-30T22:09:17Z BACKGROUND: Sleeping sickness, also called human African trypanosomiasis, is transmitted by the tsetse, a blood-sucking fly confined to sub-Saharan Africa. The form of the disease in West and Central Africa is carried mainly by species of tsetse that inhabit riverine woodland and feed avidly on humans. In contrast, the vectors for the East and Southern African form of the disease are usually savannah species that feed mostly on wild and domestic animals and bite humans infrequently, mainly because the odours produced by humans can be repellent. Hence, it takes a long time to catch many savannah tsetse from people, which in turn means that studies of the nature of contact between savannah tsetse and humans, and the ways of minimizing it, have been largely neglected. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The savannah tsetse, Glossina morsitans morsitans and G. pallidipes, were caught from men in the Mana Pools National park of Zimbabwe. Mostly the catch consisted of young G. m. morsitans, with little food reserve. Catches were increased by 4-8 times if the men were walking, not stationary, and increased about ten times more if they rode on a truck at 10 km/h. Catches were unaffected if the men used deodorant or were baited with artificial ox odour, but declined by about 95% if the men were with an ox. Surprisingly, men pursuing their normal daily activities were bitten about as much when in or near buildings as when in woodland. Catches from oxen and a standard ox-like trap were poor indices of the number and physiological state of tsetse attacking men. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The search for new strategies to minimize the contact between humans and savannah tsetse should focus on that occurring in buildings and vehicles. There is a need to design a man-like trap to help to provide an index of sleeping sickness risk. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 6 8 e1791 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Stephen J Torr Andrew Chamisa T N Clement Mangwiro Glyn A Vale Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND: Sleeping sickness, also called human African trypanosomiasis, is transmitted by the tsetse, a blood-sucking fly confined to sub-Saharan Africa. The form of the disease in West and Central Africa is carried mainly by species of tsetse that inhabit riverine woodland and feed avidly on humans. In contrast, the vectors for the East and Southern African form of the disease are usually savannah species that feed mostly on wild and domestic animals and bite humans infrequently, mainly because the odours produced by humans can be repellent. Hence, it takes a long time to catch many savannah tsetse from people, which in turn means that studies of the nature of contact between savannah tsetse and humans, and the ways of minimizing it, have been largely neglected. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The savannah tsetse, Glossina morsitans morsitans and G. pallidipes, were caught from men in the Mana Pools National park of Zimbabwe. Mostly the catch consisted of young G. m. morsitans, with little food reserve. Catches were increased by 4-8 times if the men were walking, not stationary, and increased about ten times more if they rode on a truck at 10 km/h. Catches were unaffected if the men used deodorant or were baited with artificial ox odour, but declined by about 95% if the men were with an ox. Surprisingly, men pursuing their normal daily activities were bitten about as much when in or near buildings as when in woodland. Catches from oxen and a standard ox-like trap were poor indices of the number and physiological state of tsetse attacking men. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The search for new strategies to minimize the contact between humans and savannah tsetse should focus on that occurring in buildings and vehicles. There is a need to design a man-like trap to help to provide an index of sleeping sickness risk. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stephen J Torr Andrew Chamisa T N Clement Mangwiro Glyn A Vale |
author_facet |
Stephen J Torr Andrew Chamisa T N Clement Mangwiro Glyn A Vale |
author_sort |
Stephen J Torr |
title |
Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. |
title_short |
Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. |
title_full |
Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. |
title_fullStr |
Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? Answers from studies in a national park of Zimbabwe. |
title_sort |
where, when and why do tsetse contact humans? answers from studies in a national park of zimbabwe. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001791 https://doaj.org/article/4bebebf14ed446e9b80003d056b25f33 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 6, Iss 8, p e1791 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3429383?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001791 https://doaj.org/article/4bebebf14ed446e9b80003d056b25f33 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001791 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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8 |
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e1791 |
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